A Sleigh Full of Software for Savvy Santas

Well, it’s that time of year again, and if there’s a computer enthusiast on your holiday gift list, you’re in luck for two reasons.

First, there’s a ton of software to choose from, making it easy to find something for just about anyone. Second, most software these days is very affordable, typically ringing in at about $30 to $65.

Let’s begin with the aspiring rock stars among your friends and family. “Classic Rock Guitar,” volumes I and II, uses video, scrolling music and guitars, vocals and chord diagrams to teach guitar. The packages include songs by guitar greats Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and Stevie Ray Vaughan. (Ubi Soft Entertainment, https://www.ubisoft.com, about $60 per volume.)

Or perhaps the musician on your list is more of a producer than a performer. In that case, Mixman Studio can help with the production of CD-quality music for CDs, tapes, videos and multimedia presentations. The user can load sounds or use a song template included in the package to create music. Real-time control of tempo, volume and pitch enables the would-be producer to customize songs. In short, very cool stuff. (https://www.mixman.com, about $50.)

When buying gifts for teens, it’s hard to go wrong with a good game package. And this is the season of the sequel; many of the hottest games are follow-ups to some longtime favorites.

For example, LucasArts recently released “Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II,” another of its many games based on George Lucas’ “Star Wars” movies. What I like about LucasArts games is that they offer all the excitement and challenge of other blood-and-guts action games--without all the blood and guts. (https://www.lucasarts.com, about $55.)

Another popular follow-up title is “Tomb Raider 2” This game isn’t as morbid as the name implies. In it, you’re Lara Croft, sort of a female Indiana Jones. Your mission is to explore ancient cities, uncover hidden treasure and do battle with various villains. I especially like this game because it’s one of the only action titles to cast a female in the lead. “Tomb Raider 2” is also available for Sony PlayStation. (Eidos Interactive, https://www.eidosinteractive.com, about $50.)

Is there anybody out there who hasn’t heard of or played “Myst,” the most popular CD-ROM game of all time? I doubt it. That means there are probably plenty of people on your shopping list who’d like to receive “Riven,” the long-awaited sequel.

The scenery is more incredible, the puzzles more challenging and the game more compelling. Put this on the list for any “Myst” fan and you can’t lose. (Red Orb Entertainment, https://www.redorb.com, about $50.)

Naturally, computing can’t be all fun and games. Reference books--dictionaries, etc.--are great gifts for older students, and are now available on CD-ROM.

Probably the best and most popular title in this category is “Bookshelf 98.” This package includes the American Heritage Dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus, the 1997 World Almanac and the Columbia Dictionary of Quotations.

Unlike older reference titles that you may have in your software library, “Bookshelf 98” also includes direct links to relevant Web sites. (Microsoft, https://www.microsoft.com, about $50.)

When it comes to the younger kids on your list, it’s hard to go wrong with software titles from Humongous Entertainment. The latest release introduces SPY Fox, a James Bond character with red fur and a tail. This first in a series of SPY Fox adventures is called Dry Cereal. In it, your 5-to-10-year-old helps SPY Fox recover stolen dairy cows so that kids don’t have to suffer with--you guessed it--dry cereal.

Humongous also recently introduced “Backyard Baseball,” the first in a series on sports for kids. “Backyard Baseball” is a simulation game with one major difference: All the players are kids. The game gives the player plenty of options, including what type of field to play on--a sandlot, playground, parking lot or official league field.

And if your child is having trouble connecting with a pitch, you can put the game in T-ball mode. Humongous plans to introduce “Backyard Soccer” in 1998 and will follow up with “Backyard Basketball.” (https://www.humongous.com, about $40 for each title.)

After all this gift-giving you might want to consider buying yourself one of the leading personal financial management programs: Intuit’s “Quicken 98” or Microsoft’s “Money 98.”

Intuit (https://www.intuit.com) offers a few different packages. “Quicken Basic 98” for Mac or Windows (about $40) provides simple tools to organize your bank accounts. “Quicken Deluxe 98” for Mac or Windows (about $60) adds additional tools for managing investments and other areas of your finances. Finally, “Quicken Suite 98,” available only for Windows (about $90), has added two more programs: “Quicken Family Lawyer Deluxe” and “Quicken Financial Planner.”

The “Money 98 Financial Suite” (about $55) from Microsoft is available only for Windows 95/NT. It also includes an impressive collection of financial management tools, including a little utility to help you convert your old Quicken files.

So now that everyone has more software than they know what to do with, a useful gift might be a software package to help un-install unwanted programs. Mac users don’t need much help in this area, but Windows users do because Windows programs have a tendency to install traces of the program all over the hard drive. CleanSweep 3.0 (Quarterdeck, https://www.quarterdeck.com, about $40) and Norton Uninstall Deluxe (Symantec, https://www.symantec.com, about $40) are both good at what they do. CleanSweep is probably the best all-around program in this category, and Norton Uninstaller is a good choice for more advanced users.

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Kim Komando is a TV host, syndicated talk radio host, author and entrepreneur. You can visit Komando on the Internet at https://www.komando.com or e-mail her at komando@komando.com